On a related note, I wish there was a bridge or a teleporation machine that would whisk you over Lake Michigan, that bitch keeps us so isolated from MN/WI. I'd love to check out some of their hills but at 7-12 hours drive down around Chicago and back up, it's not really worth it. Can you imagine a 4hr drive to Green Bay instead of 8 hours???

SS Badger ferry from Ludington to Manitowoc, WI takes 3 hours. Takes 4 hours to get from Detroit to Manitowoc.

Then from there it takes another 2 hours to get from Manitowoc to Granite Peak (700' vertical) in Wisconsin.

You could actually do a reaaaaaally bad ass trip if you had enough time. Go up and hit Boyne / Nubs / Shanty Creek for a few days. Then take the ferry across and hit up some place in WI/MN and head back up through the U.P. and then finally back down to Detroit.

Or Boyne / Nubs area, up through the U.P. to hit BoHo / Brule / Porkies, down through MN / WI and take the ferry back?

EDIT: Looking at the schedule, I don't think the ferry runs in the winter. October 14th looks like the end of the season.